City Penguins
by NickiCriss
Summary: New York City's secret elite force, The Penguins, have battled many enemies. Now, they're faced with a whole new challenge as something from their past comes over, needing their full attention. Humanized.
1. Refusal

Hello, welcome to my new story. I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to give a review to let me know what you think!

And without further ado, I present to you:

**Chapter I - REFUSAL**

"Absolutely not!" he replied, crossing his arms loosely on his chest.

"That wasn't a request, it was an order," said the man behind the wooden desk.

"No disrespect, but I don't give a damn".

The older man behind the desk sighed deeply and sat down to his chair.  
"You are a very stubborn man, Skipper".

"I'm a man of principles, Rockgut," the man addressed as Skipper replied.

The man behind the desk, Rockgut, sighed again.  
"Well, how about if I ask it as a favor to a friend?"

As Skipper looked suspicious, Rockgut continued: "It's Manfredi's son, you know".

"Well why don't you tell him to do it?"

_"Skipper!"_ Rockgut roared and shot up from his seat.

"I know that was uncalled-for," Skipper said, trying to calm down the older man.  
"But I'm sticking with my point."

Rockgut sat back on his seat, and after a while of silence he spoke: "Fine. You do that".  
Skipper casted a very suspicious look at the older man.

"What are you looking at? _Go, get out_!"

Skipper got out of the office, and as he stood in the big hallway, waiting for the elevator, he glanced at the door which had led him there. "B. Rockgut" was put on the mosaic glass window on it with thick black letters. What hell had Rockgut meant with 'fine'? No refusal to his orders or requests was ever 'fine' with Buck Rockgut. He was a man who got his way, and he certainly wasn't a quitter; he would've never made it to the head of the office if he was.

Skipper's thoughts were interrupted by a 'bing' sound made by the elevator as it stopped and opened its doors to Skipper. The man got in, and pressed the button to go to the first floor, get out and get home.

**-:-**

"What was it, Skipper?" he asked from behind the newspaper.

"Rockgut wanted a favor," Skipper sighed as he, too, sat down at the table.

"You declined?" the other man asked, sounding weirdly interested and disinterested at the same time.

"You're sharp, Kowalski. I knew it the day I met you," Skipper sneered.

"Thank you, sir," the man, whom Skipper addressed as Kowalski, replied in the same manner, and returned to his paper.

Skipper stood up, went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Then he walked out of the kitchen, through the dining area and to the living room. He stood by the windows and looked outside.  
The view of the morning sun shining over New York was laid out in front of Skipper as he silently stood in their apartment's living room, drinking his coffee.

"Have you seen Rico lately?" Skipper asked without taking his eyes off of the view.

"No," Kowalski replied plainly.

"Hm," Skipper grunted and took a sip from his coffee.

But soon enough the silence in the apartment was interrupted by a knock on the front door.  
"That must be him," Skipper muttered as Kowalski folded the paper he'd been reading and went to answer the door.

"Umh, Skipper..." the man suddenly heard Kowalski say.  
"You might want to come and take a look of this".

Skipper sighed and put down his -now empty- coffee mug. What could possibly be behind the door that a smart man like Kowalski would need assistance with it?  
But as Skipper reached the door he saw that Kowalski had made the right call. Behind the door was a young, slightly frightened-looking boy.

"He gave me this," Kowalski said and handed Skipper a folded paper.

_"Hello Skipper.  
This is Manfredi's son, James.  
Take good care of him.  
-B. Rockgut"_

"That son of a bitch," Skipper cursed as he folded the paper back again.

"What?" Kowalski asked.

"_I knew it; nothing's ever 'fine' with Rockgut_," Skipper muttered.

"Get the boy inside, Kowalski," he then said to the other man.

"I've got a phone call to make".


	2. We Need A Plan

Hello again, and thank you for your reviews! I'll have to warn you at this point, that I will be updating in 'regularly irregular' time intervals, as is said. But I'll try not to make the breaks too long! Anyway, here we have the second chapter.  
And answer to your questions about is James Private and is he Manfredi's son… Everything will be explained at some point, so just keep reading ;)

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter - II WE NEED A PLAN**

_"...This is not a joking matter, Rockgut!"  
"...No we can't take him! And we won't!"_

**_._**

Kowalski listened to Skipper arguing on the phone as he and the boy, who had just arrived to the door, sat at the men's dining table. The boy seemed rather happy as he drank the hot chocolate Kowalski had made him.

"You like hot chocolate, do you?" Kowalski said to the boy, trying to distract him from listening to Skipper argue on the phone. The boy looked at Kowalski and nodded.

"James was your name, wasn't it?" The boy nodded again, still staying silent.

**_._**

_"I don't care! You should know we don't have time to take care of a kid!"  
"You if anyone should know that the kid is not safe with us! ...Oh you know damn well what I mean!"_

**_._**

"Is he always like that?" the boy, James, asked slowly, slightly startling Kowalski.

"No," the man answered after getting his calmness back. "He's just..."

"Did they not tell him that I was coming?" James asked, turning to look at Kowalski with his big blue eyes.

"They did, he just..."But just before Kowalski would've had to explain how they hadn't agreed to care of the boy, Skipper entered the room, breaking the awkward moment.

"What did Rockgut say?" Kowalski asked as the man sat down at the table.

"He won't take him back," Skipper replied slowly.

"And we can't send him away," Kowalski said.

Skipper rested his head against his palms and sighed deeply.  
"Go play somewhere, kid, you're staying," Skipper grunted, and little James stood up, thanked Kowalski for the hot chocolate, and went to the living room.

"_But only until tomorrow. Then we'll find him another place to stay_," Skipper then said quietly to Kowalski.


	3. All Together

Hello all, and thank you so much for your reviews! And here's the new chapter for you!  
But before we get to it, I just want to say something;  
Yes, Skipper was insensitive towards James, but..  
you see, he didn't want the kid there in the first place, (and he seems to have no intention of letting the boy stay for any longer than he needs to), so..

But now,  
read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter III - ALL TOGETHER**

"So, kiddo..." Skipper said from the couch as the boy sat on the floor reading a book Kowalski had given him  
"...What was your name?"

"James, sir. My name is James," the boy said, looking at Skipper.

"Oh, right... And you were Manfredi's son?"

"That's right, sir," James nodded.

"I didn't even know Manfredi had a son," Skipper said, glancing at Kowalski, who shook his head slightly to indicate that he hadn't known of the boy either.  
"I was just told that this morning," continued Skipper, now turning his attention back to the boy.

James gave him a sort of '_I-don't-know-why-no-one-told-you-before_' -smile.

"But sir, may I ask what your names are?" he then asked.  
But before the men had time to answer, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who the hell's it this time?" Skipper muttered under his breath as he got up from the couch to go answer the door.  
But this time the surprise was happier.

"Hello, Rico," Skipper gave a half smile to the man behind the door.  
Skipper let him in, but Rico stopped very suddenly when he saw the boy on the floor of the living room.

"His name is James," Skipper said for he knew what Rico was thinking. "He will be staying here for a while," he continued dryly.

Rico made his way to the living room, sat on the couch near the boy, and stared at him with interest.

"Yoo James?" he asked with broken English.

"Yes," the boy nodded, seeming to have understood the man with ease.  
"What is your name?"

"Rico," the man said.

"Nice to meet you, Rico".


	4. The Boy

Hello all, so nice to see you again :) I want to say a big 'thank you' for all of your kind words in the reviews!  
Here I am, again, and with a new chapter!  
And guest, you don't have to be sorry for asking me to make the chapters longer; I'm always open for questions! And the answers to yours is that I'll try to make them longer:)

Now to the story!  
Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter IV - THE BOY**

Little James casted quick glances at the men he was having dinner with.  
_The one called Skipper seemed to be a leader of some sort; firm, commanding... An authority the others respected.  
The other man, Kowalski, seemed very intelligent, calm and calculating. James liked Kowalski; he was friendly, though he wasn't very good at making conversations. Nonetheless, James had a feeling he could be friends with Kowalski.  
The third man, Rico... Rico was a bit.. weird. His mohawk and the scar he had across his left cheek made him seem a little scary. But James wanted to believe that Rico wasn't half as scary and... crazy as he seemed._

James finished his meal, but remained quietly on his seat, for he wanted to be polite and wait for everyone else to finish eating too.

"You don't have to wait for us," Kowalski said to James, suddenly breaking the silence that had been present the whole dinner. James looked at Kowalski, and slowly and cautiously stood up from the table.  
He thanked them for the dinner with a small bow, and Kowalski nodded. Politely James cleaned up his place, and left the dining table to go to the living room. The boy could hear a quiet conversation starting at the table, but he couldn't distinguish what they were talking about.

**-:-**

"So, what shall we do with the boy?" Skipper asked quietly, as the men leaned closer to the center of the table to hear each other better.  
"Kowalski, options?"

"Well, if the office won't take him back, we.. could try if an orphanage would take him," Kowalski answered, hesitating slightly.

"Good, good," Skipper muttered. "We shall look for a place for him first thing tomorrow morning".

Then they returned to their dinner and quietness.

**-:-**

The sun was setting behind New York City skyline. Kowalski stared out the window, thinking.  
After a while, though, he turned around.

"Skipper," he said to the man sitting on the couch, watching TV, flipping through the channels.

"Huh?" the man grunted, turning his attention to Kowalski.

"I was just wondering," Kowalski began.  
"Where will James sleep tonight?"

"_Oh yeah, the boy_…"  
Skipper glanced at the boy, and then turned to the man sitting beside him on the couch.  
"Rico, can you do something about that?"

"Okay," Rico replied with his hoarse voice, and suddenly he had a stick of dynamite in his hands.  
James, who was watching the two men from the floor, had no idea where the dynamite had come from. And he had no time to think about it, for in a blink of an eye it was lit by Rico.

But luckily, Skipper reacted fast.  
"_Not the boy,_" he hissed from between his teeth as he put out the dynamite stick's fuse by squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger.  
"The sleeping arrangement".

"Oh," Rico said as he put away the dynamite, seeming slightly disappointed.  
Then he got up and went out of the living room, but returned surprisingly quickly with a folding guest bed which he then set up next to the living room's back wall.

"Good?" Rico asked, looking at Skipper, who nodded as a reply.

And James couldn't help but wonder who exactly these three men were.


	5. Changes

Hello, hello! Again, thank you all for your comments! They are highly appreciated.  
Now, you've had some questions, and I would like to answer them here:  
-Is James Private? You'll find out very soon  
-What happened to James' mom/How old is James? - Both of these will be answered in the upcoming chapters.  
-Why doesn't Skipper call him James? - Skipper has nicknames for almost everyone in the series (for example: "Ringtail" "Sad eyes" "higher mammals" etc.). In fact, his team (and a few others) seem to be the only ones called by their real names, so I thought it would fit with the character to not call the boy by his real name.

Hopefully those helped :)  
Now, read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**V CHANGES**

"_James..._ James!"

The boy slowly opened his eyes. "What...?"

"Get up, we have to go," Skipper continued, standing beside James's bed.

"W-Where...?" the little boy asked, still sleepy and confused.

"We're gonna get you a proper place to live".

So, a slight bit reluctantly little James got up, dressed himself and joined the three men waiting for him in the kitchen.

"Here's your breakfast," Kowalski said as he handed the boy a plate.

"Eat fast," Skipper advised.

After finishing their breakfast Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and James put on their coats and went out the apartment door to the hallway.

"Where exactly are we going?" James asked as they were making their way to the lifts.

"We are..." Kowalski began, but silenced fast as they saw a human figure in the hallway, coming towards them.

"_Fuck, it's Marlene_," Skipper hissed.

James didn't know why, but he saw the trio tense up as they approached the figure.

"Who's that boy?" the figure, which James now identified as a young woman with brown curly hair and round glasses, asked as soon as she and the men were at a talking distance.

"Good day to you too, Marlene," Skipper said dryly. "We're taking care of him".

"What?!" Marlene asked. "You can't take care of a child!"

"Why couldn't we? We are doing it right now," Skipper replied, now sounding irritated.

"Because you three are totally unfit to be taking care of any other human being. You can barely keep yourselves alive!"

As James followed the argument he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. It belonged to Rico, who gently pulled the boy behind his back. From there James continued to follow the argument, feeling surprisingly safe hidden behind the crazy-looking man with the mohawk.

"You will ruin the poor boy with your outrageous paranoia and that little military-plaything you do!" Marlene yelled.

"Our operations are in no way any 'play'," Skipper growled. "We fight things endangering the whole world as we know it!"

"I'm talking about you endangering that little boy!"

"We'll train him well," Skipper replied coldly.

"'Train' him?" Marlene cried out. "No, Skipper, you can't do that!"

"Well, that's just too bad," Skipper replied. "'Cause that's exactly what we'll do!"

"No, Skipper, listen! I'll help you find someone to take care of him, I'll even do it myself if I have to," Marlene said.  
"Just don't hurt the innocent kid by pulling him into your 'operations'!"

"Thank you, but no thank you. And we aren't going to hurt him," Skipper replied firmly.  
"And I assure you, after he's done with his training, nobody else will either!"

"C'mon then, let's move out, boys," he then said to Kowalski and Rico, who, with James, followed Skipper to the lifts, leaving Marlene behind.

**-:-**

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and James returned to the men's apartment after a trip to the town to get things for James that he needed for living.

"So, Skipper," Kowalski began as the other man threw his keys to the kitchen counter.

"Yes, Kowalski?"

"Did you mean it when you said we will start training James?"

"Yes," Skipper replied.

"What happened to the 'getting rid of the boy'?" Kowalski asked.

"That won't happen," Skipper replied plainly.

Kowalski saw that the man didn't want to answer, but he suspected this sudden change of mind had something to do with their encounter with Marlene, and her words 'you can't'.

"So, kiddo," Skipper said to James, whose attention immediately turned to the man.

"Since you now are our new recruit, I think we should tell you a bit of who we are".


	6. The Penguins

Hello again everyone! A big 'thank you' for all your reviews! I'm finally here with a new chapter. My apologies for it being so short, but I'll promise to make it up to you in the next chapter ;)

Anyway; read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**VI THE PENGUINS**

"Now, James, listen carefully," Kowalski advised as they, along with Skipper and Rico, sat at the dinner table.

"This is top secret, classified information, so you'll only hear it once," Skipper continued, and James nodded.

"And if I ever hear that this info gets to the wrong hands via you," the man said slowly.  
"You will wish you'd never even been born".

Even James knew to take Skipper seriously, though usually threats like that were not fulfilled.

"Okay, now that we have that clear," Kowalski said.  
"It's time to tell you who we are. We are _'The Penguins'_ ".

"'_The Penguins'_?" James repeated the weird-sounding name.

"Yes, _The Penguins_. New York's finest secret elite force," Skipper said with pride.  
"And I am the leader, Skipper".

"And I am the second in command, lieutenant Kowalski," Kowalski said. "I am also the strategist and gadgeteer".

"And Rico here is our weapons expert," Skipper introduced Rico to James.

James nodded.  
"So, what do you do, exactly?" he asked with genuine interest.

"Oh, stuff like saving the world," Kowalski smirked with pride. "You know, the basics".

"_Wow_," James said, his eyes shining from excitement.

"But our operations are not any games, there's no room for sloppiness or error," Skipper said, casting a slightly irritated glance at Kowalski, who shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

"We are highly trained and very qualified for this job; not everyone is capable of the things we do".

"Didn't your father ever say anything about his job?" Kowalski asked from James.

The boy shook his head. "Dad was away a lot".

"…Good men, he and Johnson were," Skipper muttered slowly.  
"Shame they are no longer here".

"What happened?" James asked.

"Oh, that's not material suitable for a boy your age," Skipper replied.

"But now, James, you have a once-in-a-lifetime chance," Kowalski interrupted the silence that had followed Skipper's statement.

"Oh yes," the leader continued for Kowalski.  
"_You are now officially our new Private_".


	7. Getting Started

Hello! Thank you so for your reviews and sorry that I've kept you waiting for so long! But as my way of making it up to you; welcome to the longest chapter so far!  
Now, the question about Private's mom.. it'll be answered in the later chapters.

But now, read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**VII GETTING STARTED**

The alarm went off, startling James wide awake. Almost. The boy rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked around the room, studying his surroundings, when suddenly his eyes met Skipper's icy stare.

"We need to work on that," the leader stated coldly, and continued to the man next to him: "Kowalski, make a note of that; we'll teach the boy what the alarm means".  
Kowalski took out a notepad and scribbled something on it with a yellow pencil.

James stared at the men, still a bit sleepy and not quite as sharp as he usually was.

"What are you waiting for, young Private?" Skipper's firm tone got James back to the earth.  
"Get up, we've got work to do".

James crawled out of his bed, and was thrown a bunch of clothes.

"Put those on, and come eat your breakfast," Skipper said.  
"We must head to the office as quickly as possible".

As James came to the kitchen after dressing up he noticed that the clock on the kitchen wall showed the time to be only half past five. Little James couldn't help but yawn as he thought about how early it really was.

"I recommend you eat bit more than you'd want to," Kowalski said to him as he sat down at the table.  
"The time between breakfast and lunch feels surprisingly long when you're training".  
James nodded, feeling a bit unsure about what was going to happen next.

After breakfast, about seven and a half minutes later, Skipper, Rico, Kowalski and little James were on their way to a place Skipper had called 'the office'.

"How far is this 'office', exactly?" James asked after a while of walking.

"About nine and a half miles away," Kowalski said in his usual calm manner.

"Wouldn't it be... quicker to take the bus, or something, then?" asked James.

"Yes," Skipper, who was walking a yard ahead of the boy, replied.  
"But this is a good warm-up for you".

James didn't know what to say to that, so for the rest of the way they walked in silence.

Nine miles later the group arrived to a tall skyscraper. To James it seemed so ordinary that it couldn't be the office Skipper and the rest had talked about.

"You expected something more unusual?" Kowalski asked as he noticed the disappointment on James' face. The boy nodded slowly.  
Rico laughed, and that made James feel a bit uneasy. But he calmed down when he saw that Rico's intentions weren't bad.

"Normal's good," he said.

"Indeed," Skipper continued as he opened the buildings front door.  
"A skyscraper in New York draws no attention to itself. Let that be your lesson number one: _sometimes invisibility is achieved by just blending in_".

James nodded and followed the men inside to the building.  
And indeed the building seemed like such an ordinary office building that for a while James doubted if Skipper, Kowalski and Rico had mistaken. But Skipper led the others confidently through the huge hall to the reception desk in the middle of it.

"Good morning, sir," the small, blond woman sitting behind the desk, greeted Skipper.

"Morning, Belle," he said, resting his elbow on the desk.  
"You can let Rockgut know we're here now".

"Right away, sir," Belle replied, and picked up the office phone.  
"He left this for you," she continued, and gave Skipper a small envelope as she held the phone on her ear, waiting for an answer. Skipper took the envelope and nodded as a thank you.

_"Hello, Mr. Rockgut? You asked me to tell you when the Penguins arrive?..."_

Skipper left Belle to talk with Rockgut and reunited with the others.  
"Alright then, let's see what we have here..." Skipper mumbled as he opened the envelope.  
"Exactly what we needed," he then grinned as he pulled out a keycard.

"Men, let's go," Skipper continued, threw away the empty envelope and started walking towards a staircase. The men, and James, followed. But to James' surprise, Skipper didn't go to the stairs. Instead he followed alongside the wall that supported them, running his hand on it. Until he suddenly stopped and turned to face the wall.

"Here. Kowalski, you want to do the honors?" Skipper asked, handing Kowalski the key card from the envelope.

"Yes please," the addressed man smirked and stepped forward to the spot where Skipper had stood as he gave the man room.  
Kowalski held the keycard as close to the wall as he could, waving it around a bit until a small beeping sound was heard. Then a small portion of the wall flipped around, revealing a well-hidden panel with number keys on it. Kowalski slid the card through the panel and entered a code with multiple digits into it.  
James peeked at the operation from behind Kowalski's back. The panels had five buttons in a row, four rows and all the buttons looked alike. James counted that Kowalski pushed the buttons at least twenty times, and after he was done... There was a quiet hissing noise coming from a bit further away.

"I just love technology," Kowalski said, mostly to James, as he turned around.

"Alright then, let's go," Skipper said as he started walking towards the end of the stairs. But not the end James had expected. At the end of the walls supporting the stairs, a small door had opened. Or it wasn't as much a door as it was a... shaft of some sort. Skipper guided the others to go in it; first went Kowalski, then Rico.  
James stared at Skipper.

"C'mon kid, what're you waiting for?" the man said.

"You.. want me to go.. in there?" James stuttered.

"Yes. And hurry, we don't have all day," Skipper replied in his usual calm and firm manner.  
James hesitated, but followed Skipper's orders; Skipper didn't seem to be the kind of leader to put his men at risk for nothing. And he was now that; a part of Skipper's team. So, James sat on the floor and pushed himself down the metal slide in the shaft, but he couldn't help but close his eyes for the whole slide down.

"James," the boy heard Kowalski's voice say.  
"You can open your eyes now".

And so James did, slowly. He saw Kowalski and Rico standing in front of him in a huge room.

"And you might want to get up now," Kowalski marked with a small grin. James stood up from the slide, and not a moment too soon; just seconds after Skipper came down the slide and got up with one swift move.

"Alright men, line up!"

James followed Kowalski and Rico across the room, marvelling at the size of it. A huge gymnastics hall, with grey floors, covered in white lines that formed fields for all sorts of ball games, pitch black walls and almost blindingly bright lights hanging from the surprisingly high ceiling.

"_What is this place_?" amazed sigh escaped James' lips.

"This," Skipper said, spreading his hands as wide as he could.  
"Is our training hall, Private," he said and smirked.  
"Welcome".

"Now," Skipper then continued in an authoritative manner which startled James slightly and immediately got the others stand in attention.  
"Kowalski, Rico.. Today, our training will be a bit easier for you, 'cause today it's all about training our new private here," Skipper said, pointing at James with his hand.

"Don't help him unless I tell you to; I want to see his own true capabilities, understood?"  
Kowalski and Rico gave the leader a salute.

"Let's begin with a simple test. Run five laps around the hall," Skipper said to James, and then turned to Kowalski: "Kowalski, you take his time".

"Alright, kiddo, get ready," Skipper walked closer to the boy. James took runners' starting position.

"_Get set_..."

"_Go!_"

James ran as fast as he could, keeping his mind focused only on this; now it was his time to show these men what he was made of.

**-:-**

"And done!"

James had managed to finish the five laps, but he felt quite exhausted afterwards. He leant his hands on his knees and panted as Skipper walked over to him.

"Not too bad, young private," he smiled.  
"Ready for your next challenge?"

James nodded, even though part of him wanted to say 'no'.

"Alright then," the leader replied.  
"Straighten up, soldier!"

James didn't have to be told twice; Skipper's authoritative tone was enough in itself to startle the young boy to straighten his posture.

"Now, drop and give me twenty!"

James did as he was told, struggled, but completed the task.  
And immediately Skipper had a new one. And then a new one. And then another.  
As James ran to the other end of the hall for the fifth time, panting heavily, Skipper chuckled.

"Only six more months of this and you'll be done".


	8. Extra - Evening Talk

Hello! I apologize for the lack of updates; these last months have been very busy for me. Anyway, I again thank you for all your reviews!  
I was asked about James' background and I wanted to tell you a little bit about that, so, here you go!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

**VII EXTRA – Evening Talk**

"You did quite well today," Kowalski said as he handed James a cup of steaming hot tea.

"Thank you," James smiled and nodded, taking the cup from Kowalski.  
"I guess those sports lessons my uncle made me take came in handy after all," he chuckled.

"Your uncle?" Kowalski questioned.

"Yeah, Uncle Nigel. He got me to do sports," James smiled, still looking at his tea.

"Was your uncle... largely involved in your life then?" Kowalski asked, not really knowing the right words for his question. But James didn't mind.

"Oh yes," he replied.  
"I spent many years living with him in England".

"Well I thought I heard a British accent in your voice," Kowalski's face brightened.  
But then he got rather serious again.  
"But I thought your parents were both American?"

"Oh, yes, yes they are. But you see," James hurried to say. "When dad… past away, my mum thought it would be better for me if I'd go live with Uncle Nigel, who lived, or, you know, _still lives,_ in England. Mum was afraid because of dad's work and always said I should get myself 'a proper education and a nice, secure job and not something stupid like your dad'," he finished quietly.

Kowalski wanted to say something but he couldn't find any words. James quickly turned his gaze to Kowalski.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that what you do is stupid, it's just…"

"Your mom didn't particularly like our work and its dangers?" Kowalski completed the sentence.

"Or that dad had to be away so much; exactly. She and dad often fought about it when dad was home," James said.  
"I hated their fights," he sighed quietly, lowering his gaze.

Again Kowalski had no idea what to say.  
"I… I'm sorry," he finally managed to mutter.

James turned his gaze back towards Kowalski, and slowly his expression softened into a small smile.  
"It wasn't your fault, Mr. Kowalski".

"I know, I just…" Kowalski began, but swallowed the rest of his sentence. Silence fell to the apartment for a long time.

"Anyway," James began quietly, breaking the silence, and quickly got Kowalski's attention.  
"I moved to England and began school there half a year after dad passed away, and came back here a few months ago".

"…And now you're here," Kowalski concluded.

"And now I'm here," James confirmed with a nod.  
"Receiving training from the men with whom my father used to work to save the world!"

Kowalski chuckled at the hint of excitement he detected in the boy's voice.  
"You have quite a life story for a boy of such young age," he said slowly.

James chuckled. "Quite possibly so," he replied.

"And it'll only get crazier from here," Kowalski said with a smirk.


End file.
